posted at 1:41 pm on February 5, 2014 by Erika Johnsen

Er… Is this kinda’ like that ultra-lame, ultra-pandering “promise zone” initiative he started a few weeks ago? Via the NYT:

On the heels of the Senate’s passage of a long-awaited farm bill, the Obama administration is to announce on Wednesday the creation of seven regional “climate hubs” to help farmers and rural communities respond to the risks of climate change, including drought, invasive pests, fires and floods. …

In substance, the creation of the climate hubs is a limited step, but it is part of a broader campaign by the administration to advance climate policy wherever possible with executive authority. The action is also part of a push to build political support for the administration’s more divisive moves on climate change — in particular, the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations on coal-fired power plants.

Tom Vilsack, the secretary of agriculture and a former Iowa governor, is to announce the creation of the climate hubs at a White House briefing.

“For generations, America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners have innovated and adapted to challenges,” Mr. Vilsack is to say, according to prepared remarks. “Today, they face a new and more complex threat in the form of a changing and shifting climate, which impacts both our nation’s forests and our farmers’ bottom lines.”

Well. The seven “hubs” and several “sub-hubs” are going to be set up at already-existing USDA facilities and it looks like this really only amounts to some flimsy administrative reshuffling with a nice alliterative name tacked on, but Obama has been talking a big game about all of the executive actions he’s going to implement to “act” on climate change wherever he can and where Congress won’t. The greens have been mighty upset with him lately about his “all of the above” energy platform and what looks like the pending inevitably (…maybe?) of the Keystone XL pipeline, and he has to do something to try and mitigate their complaints, I suppose. You might think that basically cutting the coal industry off at the knees via regulatory fiat would be enough… but it never is.

Breaking on Hot Air

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Climate hubs? What a crock. Some quotes from the climate loons:
“We are on the brink of disaster. Urgent action by the government is needed.” -Econuts and Democrats, 1960s
“We are on the brink of disaster. Urgent action by the government is needed.” -Econuts and Democrats, 1970s
“We are on the brink of disaster. Urgent action by the government is needed.” -Econuts and Democrats, 1980s
“We are on the brink of disaster. Urgent action by the government is needed.” -Econuts and Democrats, 1990s
“We are on the brink of disaster. Urgent action by the government is needed.” -Econuts and Democrats, 2000s
“We are on the brink of disaster. Urgent action by the government is needed.” -Econuts and Democrats, 2010s

Today, they face a new and more complex threat in the form of an out of control federal government and host of eco-Marxist environmental groups changing and shifting political climate, which impacts both our nation’s forests and our farmers’ bottom lines.” and our food security.

The hubs will be covered with special paint which reflects CO2 rays and deters global warming insectoids.

Bishop on February 5, 2014 at 2:05 PM

Special paint that will require massive “investment” in infrastucture to build the manufacturing facility. To be produced for the government by a no-bid contract by a company that “coincidentally” bundled cash for OFA.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2014—Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today the creation of the first ever Regional Hubs for Risk Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change at seven locations around the country. “Climate Hubs” will address increasing risks such as fires, invasive pests, devastating floods, and crippling droughts on a regional basis, aiming to translate science and research into information to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners on ways to adapt and adjust their resource management. In his State of the Union Address, President Obama pledged that his Administration will continue to do everything in its power to act on climate change. Today’s announcement is part of the President’s Climate Action Plan to responsibly cut carbon pollution, slow the effects of climate change and put America on track to a cleaner environment.
“For generations, America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners have innovated and adapted to challenges. Today, they face a new and more complex threat in the form of a changing and shifting climate, which impacts both our nation’s forests and our farmers’ bottom lines,” said Vilsack. “USDA’s Climate Hubs are part of our broad commitment to developing the next generation of climate solutions, so that our agricultural leaders have the modern technologies and tools they need to adapt and succeed in the face of a changing climate.”
The Secretary first announced his intention to create the Hubs last summer. The Hubs will provide outreach and information to producers on ways to mitigate risks; public education about the risks climate change poses to agriculture, ranchlands and forests; regional climate risk and vulnerability assessments; and centers of climate forecast data and information. They will also link a broad network of partners participating in climate risk adaptation and mitigation, including universities; non-governmental organizations; federal agencies such as the Department of Interior and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Native Nations and organizations; state departments of environment and agriculture; research centers; farm groups and more.
Across the country, farmers, ranchers and forest landowners are seeing an increase in risks to their operations due to fires, increases in invasive pests, droughts, and floods. For example, in the Midwest, growing seasons have lengthened by almost two weeks since 1950. The fire season is now 60 days longer than it was 30 years ago, and forests will become increasingly threatened by insect outbreaks, fire, drought and storms over the next 50 years. These events threaten our food supply and are costly for producers and rural economies. Drought alone was estimated to cost the U.S. $50 billion from 2011 to 2013. Such risks have implications not only for agricultural producers, but for all Americans.
The Hubs were chosen through a competitive process among USDA facilities. In addition to the seven Hubs, USDA is designating three Subsidiary Hubs (“Sub Hubs”) that will function within the Southeast, Midwest, and Southwest. The Sub Hubs will support the Hub within their region and focus on a narrow and unique set of issues relative to what will be going on in the rest of the Hub. The Southwest Sub Hub, located in Davis, California, will focus on specialty crops and Southwest forests, the Southeast Sub Hub will address issues important to the Caribbean, and the Midwest Sub Hub will address climate change and Lake State forests.
The following locations have been selected to serve as their region’s center of climate change information and outreach to mitigate risks to the agricultural sector:

“This is the next step in USDA’s decades of work alongside farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to keep up production in the face of challenges,” Vilsack said. “If we are to be effective in managing the risks from a shifting climate, we’ll need to ensure that our managers in the field and our stakeholders have the information they need to succeed. That’s why we’re bringing all of that information together on a regionally-appropriate basis.”
The Climate Hubs will build on the capacity within USDA to deliver science-based knowledge and practical information to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to support decision-making related to climate change across the country.
For more information, visit http://www.usda.gov/climatechange.
#
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).

On the heels of the Senate’s passage of a long-awaited farm bill, the Obama administration is to announce on Wednesday the creation of seven regional “climate hubs” to help farmers and rural communities respond to the risks of climate change, including drought, invasive pests, fires and floods. …

Just heard this reported on the radio at the top of the hour. Don’t laugh… this “Climate Hubs” order is much bigger than the toothless boondoggle you make it out to be.

The top-of-the-hour news paints a slightly different picture. From what I could gather, it’s less about “helping farmers” and more about information gathering. The decree establishes bases for Obama’s environmental gauleiters to gather information from farmers, send this information further up the chain of command, for it to be interpreted and forged into more top-down command-economy regulations.

MARK MY WORDS…
Farmers, expect to be seeing uninvited Climate Hub-Hipsters trampling your crops and snooping in your barns and silos- to be followed by more regulations.

…Obama is a longtime supporter of “regionalism,” the idea that the suburbs should be folded into the cities, merging schools, housing, transportation, and above all taxation. To this end, the president has already put programs in place designed to push the country toward a sweeping social transformation in a possible second term. The goal: income equalization via a massive redistribution of suburban tax money to the cities….

Which resulted from….Barack Obama and Obama Party-pushed enviro-whacko initiatives that put the lives of minnows ahead of the livelihoods of millions of farmers, farm workers, and businesses that support agriculture and their communities.

Poison as food, poison as antidote. These repulsive and sick Obama puppets and their idiot racist child Baracka can do nothing but destroy.

Yes, the ultimate so-called “progressive” agenda. I think they would like to eventually have us all move into the cities, living in small apartments; everyone using public transportation and getting your health care from the neighborhood government clinic – where you might see the one doctor once a year. Sort of like, uh, Communist China.

“For generations, America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners have innovated and adapted to challenges,” Mr. Vilsack is to say, according to prepared remarks. “Today, they face a new and more complex threat in the form of a changing and shifting climate, which impacts both our nation’s forests and our farmers’ bottom lines.”

These hubs will be staffed with people from the govt who have never spent a day farming and ranching, telling ranchers and farmers how and when to farm and ranch. This will work out about as well as economists telling insurance companies and doctors how to pay for and provide health care.

“For generations, America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners have innovated and adapted to challenges,” Mr. Vilsack is to say, according to prepared remarks. “Today, they face a new and more complex threat in the form of a changing and shifting climateliberal politicians, which impacts both our nation’s forests and our farmers’ bottom lines.”